Visual behavior on problem comprehension among novice programmers with prior knowledge

Abstract

Program comprehension studies investigate the underlying cognitive processes of individuals as they perform programming tasks. Over the years, the studies have begin to incorporate devices such as eye-tracking to empirically analyze reading patterns and visual attention. The outcome of such studies enables improved teaching instructions and learning procedures. This research aims to understand the comprehension strategies and the duration that individuals of varying performance take to attempt the programming questions. An experiment was conducted to collect data from 66 novice programmers’ eye movements and their performance on algorithmic problems. The stimuli contained questions that the participants were familiar with having studied the same programs before the experiment was conducted to evaluate whether their prior knowledge influences their comprehension strategies. The results indicate that high performing students visit the problem statement more than the low performing students and yet spent less time on the problem statement as compared to the low performing students.